Cancer News

MONDAY, Jan. 17 (HealthDay News) -- Predictors of discharge status after radical cystectomy (RC) include sociodemographic factors, preoperative performance status, comorbidities, and perioperative factors, according to research published in the January issue of The Journal of Urology.

Monty A. Aghazadeh, M.D., from the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., and colleagues analyzed discharge status in 445 patients who had undergone RC between January 2004 and December 2007. Patients were grouped into one of four groups based on discharge status: home without services, home with services, facility, and mortality groups. Clinical, perioperative, and pathological variables were compared, as was the association of discharge status with the hospital readmission rate and 90-day mortality.

The researchers determined that older age, lower preoperative albumin, unmarried status, and more comorbidities predicted discharge home with services; whereas, older age, poor preoperative exercise tolerance, and longer hospital stay predicted discharge to a facility. They further found that 20.5 percent of patients discharged to a facility died within 90 days of surgery, compared with 4.8 and 4.0 percent of those discharged home with and without services, respectively. There was no difference in the rate of rehospitalization among the groups.

"Some subgroups can be predicted to have increased postoperative care needs and may be appropriate targets for disposition planning preoperatively," the authors write.

One co-author disclosed financial ties to Ferring; another author disclosed ties to Tension.